The construction of the new Sellwood Bridge will bring changes to the westside area where the span meets Oregon 43.

One seemingly small question –- where to situate a new driveway for the Macadam Bay houseboat community –- has ignited a fierce debate in which the interests of local business owners, houseboat residents and Miles Place/Miles street property owners clash.

At issue: safety, the financial future of several businesses, property values and the preservation of the character of one of Portland’s riverside streets.

The current Macadam Bay access road needs to be moved because it will be too close to the new bridge interchange to operate safely.

At a May 17 public meeting, the bridge project team offered almost a dozen alternative options for relocating the houseboat driveway. Also up for discussion was the question of where to align a regional bike and pedestrian trail that runs from Macadam Bay to Southwest Miles Street. Forty people testified, sometimes passionately, about their preferences.

About 200 cars travel between Macadam Bay and Oregon 43/Macadam Avenue daily. Three broad options exist for rerouting this traffic:

Along the rail corridor that runs parallel to Oregon 43 (between Miles Place and the back of several businesses) to Miles Street.

Along Miles Place to Miles Street.

One affected group or another passionately opposes each option. At the May meeting, Macadam Bay residents were united in their opposition to options that routed their driveway through the parking lot of Freeman Motors. This is city-owned land the car dealership leases.

Safety was their main concern. They would like to connect to Oregon 43 at a signal. A traffic engineer at the meeting explained that this proposed route does not warrant a signal. There is no signal at the current Macadam Bay driveway.

Houseboat dwellers also had other safety concerns: This route would force them to drive under a large transmission tower and through a business parking lot, mixing with traffic and Freeman Motors customers both on foot and in cars.

Some mentioned that liability concerns on the part of Freeman Motors and resulting litigation could raise the approximately $4 million cost of this option considerably. Freeman Motors did not address the meeting.

Others in the houseboat community were concerned about their property values.

Speakers said they have landscaped access that helps define desirability and value, and they don’t want to replace that for an aesthetically unappealing route that runs under a transmission tower and through a used-car dealership.

Nearly all houseboat dwellers favored an option that would run their driveway along a rail corridor to Miles Street, allowing them to use the signaled intersection at Miles Street and Oregon 43.

Business owners on Miles Street and Oregon 43 -- with the exception of Freeman Motors -- were, however, united with residents of Miles Place in opposing options along the rail corridor.

These options, business owners, pointed out would severely reduce already limited parking, complicate truck movement in the area, necessitate the loss of some commercial buildings that encroach into the right of way and, in some options, eliminate business access along the tracks.

Some business owners said these changes would force them to move.

Miles Place residents opposed the rail corridor options because they necessitate the removal of many trees behind their houses. The trees act as a sound barrier blocking noise from Oregon 43 and as a screen hiding the commercial area from view.

Miles Place residents were passionate in their insistence that routing Macadam Bay traffic along their narrow waterfront street would destroy the livability of the area, gum up vehicle movement and be dangerous for the pedestrians and cyclists who flood the area on weekends.

Miles Place and Miles Street residents as well as business owners called for routing the driveway through Freeman Motors.

Mike Pullen, Multnomah County spokesman, said after the meeting that two clear positions had emerged, with no consensus.

How then will the county go about about making a decision?

Pullen said the criteria for evaluating options would include safety, affordability, whether they impact previously unaffected parties, and whether they are long-term solutions. The option favored by the houseboat owners is a temporary solution that would need redesign if rail mass-transit development occurs along the corridor.

Pullen said it is possible a modified version of the Freeman Motors option could gain traction. The option replaces the large transmission tower with a single pole and moves the driveway out of the car dealer's parking lot to an adjacent area just south. That could allay some safety and liability concerns of the houseboat community and Freeman Motors.

One group not heard from at the meeting? Trail users. Hundreds of people walk, jog and cycle down the middle of Miles Place on weekends. After the new bridge goes in, that is expected to rise into the thousands.

Where to route them raises questions. Current thinking has appeared to coalesce around Miles Place as a likely option. It is narrow, has no sidewalks and has many trees in the right of way. These features, residents and others argue, are part of its appeal.

But if Miles Place becomes the designated trail route, it’s likely that a sidewalk will be built to safely accommodate the extra pedestrians, a mix likely to include wheelchair users and baby strollers. City standard street design with bike lane and sidewalk would require the removal of many old trees. This, residents say, would detract from the ramshackle charm of Miles Place.

Where and what kind of trail to build is, like the siting of the driveway, an unsettled issue. Pullen said the bridge project's Citizens Advisory Committee will hold deliberations on these questions Monday, June 4. Any recommendation they make will be considered by the Public Stakeholder Committee on Monday, June 18.

The hope is that the Multnomah Board of County Commissioners can make a final decision on access and trail alignments on Thursday, June 21.